


Don't Give Up on Me Now

by butterflybaby91



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 13:30:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4306938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflybaby91/pseuds/butterflybaby91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack has a new job. Let's just say it's not the safest occupation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Give Up on Me Now

Retrieving his lunch pail from where he had stashed it on the edge of a beam earlier that morning, Jack settled back against the column of steel he was closest too and pulled out the sandwich Katherine had packed him that morning. Race sat down next to him and they both stared down at their feet dangling in mid air, fifteen stories above the city.

“Sure is a long way down,” Jack muttered around a mouthful of bread. Race nodded grimly. Helping to raise the skyline of New York paid far better than selling papes, which was why the two had left their friends to take this job in the first place, but Jack at least, had not quite gotten used to the unnerving feeling of working mid-air.

The pair didn’t say much as they ate, focusing more on eating as fast as they could, because the sooner they finished what they were supposed to do the quicker they could get back on the ground and go home. Pushing his now empty tin aside, Jack stood up and went back to nailing rivets into a steel beam.

Construction was surprisingly a much quieter job than selling papers, the only noises being the whistling of some of the other men, the repetitive pounding of hammers on metal, and the gentle hum of the busy city far below them. Jack was able to lose himself in the repetitiveness of his work and before he knew it, he was done.

He sat on the scaffolding waiting for Race to finish and not ten minutes later they were both in the lift heading down. When they were only three stories from the ground, they heard loud shouts coming from above. Jack looked up just in time to see a beam falling quickly toward the lift. With a cry he managed to push Race out of the way and onto the safety of the exposed beams of the building, but he was still stuck in the lift when the beam crashed into it, ripping the platform from the pulley and sending him hurtling toward the ground.

The last thing Jack heard, as he hit the ground with a sickening crunch, was Race screaming his name from above and then everything went black.

___

“Katherine!” Katherine turned away from her desk to greet Crutchie with a smile that faded as she saw the boy’s face.

Jumping up, she gripped the boy’s elbows, “What’s wrong?” she demanded. Crutchie was white as a ghost, his eyes wide and it was clear it he had been crying.

He gulped, “It’s…it’s Jack,” he spluttered through a sob.

Katherine’s grip tightened, “Where is he?” she asked, her voice sounding far away to her own ears. This is what she had feared, ever since Jack had taken that stupid construction job, claiming they needed more money if they were ever to properly start a family. She had pleaded and begged him not to, but he was very insistent about it and there was nothing anyone could do to stop a determined Jack Kelly.

Crutchie’s sniffling brought her back from her thoughts and she distantly heard him reply through the roaring that had started in her ears, “St. Peter’s Katherine. He…he had a bad fall,” but Katherine couldn’t hear any more. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the tears to stay away for the moment—she had to get to Jack—she had to see him, there was no time for wallowing in despair.

“Come on,” she said, pulling Crutchie along with her as they raced toward the hospital.

\---

They skidded into the emergency ward and a nurse took one look at them and pointed them down a nearby corridor. Katherine’s feet slowed as she came across the cluster of newsboys seated around a door at the end of the hall.

They all stopped talking as they saw her walk up, their faces sad and eyes red.

“How is he?” she demanded, peering anxiously at the door, scared of what she would find on the other side.

Specs put a hand on her shoulder, “Race is with him now—they wouldn’t let all ‘f us in—Race saw him fall. Jack saved him from falling too. But,” he gulped and shook his head, “He’s in bad shape Katherine.” Katherine turned with a horrified expression to Specs, her bottom lip quivering as she struggled to keep from sobbing. “The doctor’s aren’t sure he’s gonna make it,” Specs whispered.

Katherine drew in a great stuttering breath and pushed the door open. She didn’t even register Race sitting besides the bed, just Jack, looking broken and weaker than he had ever seemed, lying on the bed, wrapped and bandaged all over. She could barely make out his face due to the layers of gauze wrapped around his head. All she could see was the light purple bruising around his eye. His legs were raised above him, wrapped in plaster as were both his arms and she could see his chest just barely rising and falling, evenly, but very slowly.

She was at his side in an instant, gently clutching his stiff hand, “Jack,” she called softly, even though it wasn’t clear he could hear her, “Jack you have to pull through, you…you have to!” she pleaded sinking down in the chair that Race kindly vacated for her, as the tears began streaking down her face.

His only response was a light groan, but he did manage to turn his eyes toward her. They were wide and fear filled as he drew in a jittery breath and squeezed her hand back as best he could, “I’m sorry Ace,” he whispered, as Katherine leaned closer to him, trying to hear his faint voice.

Katherine choked back a sob, “No, don’t apologize,” she muttered tenderly, willing her tears to stop, as she lightly brushed where she thought his hair should be underneath all the bandages, “You’re…you’re gonna be fine, I know it Jack,” she assured him.

He closed his eyes painfully, “Doesn’t feel like it Ace,” he admitted.

“Don’t say that!” she insisted, eyes glinting determinedly through her lingering tears, “You’re gonna pull through.”

Jack’s eyes remained closed and he didn’t respond, but his shallow breathing continued steadily, so Katherine assumed he had just fallen asleep. She pressed a light kiss to his forehead and sat back in the chair to wait out the next worrisome hours.

___

“Miss…Miss,” Katherine blinked groggily, raising her head from where it had fallen on the edge of Jack’s bed, when she fell asleep.

“Wha..?” she stuttered, looking confusedly around the now dark room. A nurse was gently shaking her shoulder, but stopped when she realized she had Katherine’s attention.

“You have to move miss,” the nurse insisted, “He’s taken a turn for the worse; I need to change his bandages.”

Katherine backed away from the bed in a daze, “What? How?” she kept repeating, as the nurse gave Jack a dose of something and sat about unwinding the bandages around his head. The gauze pulled away to reveal a face that was merely a sliver of Jack’s handsome self. His skin was deathly pale and covered in sweat, scrapes, and dark purple and blue bruises. A large gash cut all the way from his ear to the center of his forehead and it was at that the nurse gently dabbed some concoction, evidently trying to stem the still seeping blood.

“He’s lost a lot of blood Miss,” the nurse told her, as Katherine stared aghast at the gruesome mess Jack’s skin had become, “There’s not much we can do now, except ease the pain,” she sighed sympathetically, as she finished her ministrations and led Katherine back to the chair. She brushed a mothering hand over Katherine’s now frizzy and matted hair, “You’ll want to be saying your goodbyes,” she whispered sadly, before exiting the room.

Katherine sat there in shock for several minutes after she was left alone with the unconscious Jack. Finally, she briefly recovered her wits and threw herself on the edge of the bed, “Oh Jack,” she sobbed, peppering his face with kisses, “Please don’t leave me,” she whispered, sitting back in the chair and gripping his hand desperately, “I love you.”

After a few moments Katherine felt Jack gripping her hand back—he was awake, “Ace, Katherine,” he called out softly until she moved into his view and his eyes locked on hers, “Come here,” he said while Katherine just looked at him in confusion, “Lay down with me,” he tried again.

“I don’t want to make the pain worse,” Katherine hedged, lingering on the edge of the bed.

Jack let out the bark of a laugh, “They have me drugged up on morphine—I can’t feel anything,” he assured her before repeating, “Come here.”

Katherine maneuvered herself as best she could in the crock of his arm, trying to hold most of her weight off his body. “I love you,” Katherine whispered again, nuzzling gently at his chest.

Jack sighed, “I love you too Katherine—I’m so sorry—I should’ve listened to you. You never wanted me to take this job.” He gripped her hand as hard as he could, not being able to show affection in any other manner.

“Don’t…don’t apologize,” Katherine pleaded again and they lay in silence until she felt Jack’s breathing ease back into sleep. She desperately studied his face as he slept, until she also felt herself drifting off, the stress and worry of the past few hours overcoming her.

When Katherine next woke, the sun was streaming in through the window. Stretching slightly, she pressed her ear to Jack’s chest, listening for his breathing. Not hearing it, she bolted upright, “Jack,” she whispered frantically, pressing her hands to his face, trying to rouse him, but all she felt was cold, hard skin radiating through the bandages. She pressed her fingers to all the pulse points she knew of and came away with nothing. Jack was gone. As that realization hit her, Katherine collapsed against his lifeless body in despair.

 


End file.
